Happy Memorial Day

A to B

A is done! It took a little time to find the best way to scan and edit the original illustration, but I think I have landed on a pretty little copy.
I am going to do a couple more letters before I start putting them in the shop. Now it's time for B!
I love my ABCs...

Au Naturale

Kent and I have been talking lately about getting serious about choosing healthier meat options.  As it is becoming more and more apparent that the meat and eggs in our grocery stores are anything but natural (or good for you) we have decided to go ahead and make the jump to organic and natural meat for a one year trial.
Yay! and Ugh!
Yaaay, because we like to eat and care about what we eat. Ugh, because it will mean "so long" to that economy sized bag of Costco frozen chicken...you and your saline solution were such a good deal.
We have been hearing awesome things around town about Bill the Butcher so yesterday we kicked off the year with a field trip.
It was the first butcher shop I have been in and was quite impressed...it all felt very European.  Small, personal, and all the people there are chefs who really know their meat.
So we got some dry cured bacon for our cobb salads yesterday (sooo good), and two chicken breasts for tonight's dinner.

Spendy. We might be choosing the vegetarian option at home most nights. But we are excited for the challenge!
Now this doesn't mean we won't have our splurges now and then. Sometimes a couple needs a jumbo jack...don't ask questions just eat. And we won't be picketing for a chicken's right to vote either so just put that Hippie Hate sign away.
But for us, for this house we are ready to eat meat the way we were intended to, for a year at least.

Barley Update: Phonetics & Gestures

I love this nerdy ABC's poster by Tiffany Ard. And although Greta isn't rocking words like Glaciation just yet, we feel like it is only a matter of time. So for the family who makes up the majority of my readership here is another Barley update!
Phonetics
Word Catalog May 2010
-Hi (Greetings)
-Whas at? (What is that over there?)
-SSSSSS (What does the snake say?)
-Ah Ah Ah (What does the monkey say?)
-Shez (Shoes)
-Shez Shez (Yes yes)
-Bop (We don't know but it's cute)

Gestures
Catalog of meaningful gestures May 2010
-Shaking head from side to side (Nooooo, I should not do what I just did, and know it, but maybe I will do it again?
-Waving (Good bye, Hello)
-Standing by the front door waving (Let's go outside, or maybe as soon as I can reach the handle I will just leave without you?)...followed by various attempts to escape using tippy toes and tongue hanging out of mouth concentration.
-Pats on the back (There there now)
-Baby sign for more and all done, sometimes used all at once and with gusto when she wants something really bad.

Bonus*
-Hugs when I ask her for hugs
-Kisses when I ask for kisses

I am loving these new words and tricks of hers!

In the kitchen...

It has been a long time since I put that little extra love into Greta's lunches. Usually her lunch time is sandwhiched right in between the gym and nap time when I am all kinds of worn out and ravenous myself. So it's hello applesauce, garden burger,  or whatever else is handy.

So today I put on the little yellow apron that makes me feel so sunshiney and whipped her up something scrumptious, and most importantly packed with things that don't wrack me with guilt.
Carrots, spinach, herbs from the porch, shallots from the farmers market, and sour cream from, well Trader Joes.
Just a few things to trick her into healthy habits and jazz up the jarred tomato sauce and 3 packets of random left over noodles I've always kept for "next time".
I had so much fun that while the one hand was storing pasta lunches in cute little tupperwares I was taking out the furniture, mopping floors, marinating meat for dinner, and all other kinds of healthful wifely duties (that of course I do this time of day everyday...wink) with the other. And best of all having the grandest time. Sometimes just puttering around the kitchen is all I need in a day.

All Gussied Up

Hey look whose blog is getting all gussied up?
You may have noticed excessive amounts of posting/re-posting banners and editing lately.
I am loving the new wider format and larger pictures.
Fancy:)

Image by Livia Cetti via jordanferney

Reads.

 I came out of birthday weekend with some good reads!
My in laws gave me a few books from the Coralie Bickford-Smith Series (love!) Because I totally
judge books by their covers. And these are fabulous!

I finally read Great Expectations (I have been holding out on Dickens as Kent has unflattering opinions of him, but why should I?) and Cranford (wicked boring) due to the lure of these charming covers.  And I am currently plowing through a library acquired Emma (the slowest Austen) because they had a Bickford-Smith version, and my two paperbacks weren't doing the trick...the trick being me finishing them.

So, happy days are here again. I have been in a sort of book drought since I finished "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay", a tough act to follow, but with these and of course my new LOTR 50th Anniversary Edition with gorgeous fold out maps, I foresee more 2:00am curfews and lots of late night snacks in the near future. Like wine with a good meal. I find something toasted is the perfect reading companion.

Whirlwind Weekend

Friday was my birthday, we wont go into years*. But I will say, it started out with a beautiful copy of The Lord on the Rings...with MAPS (my favorite), breakfast at one of my favorite spots*, and the whole day with my two favorite people!

We topped off the night with dinner at Purple, and a couple very special dinner guests who flew in from California that day!
The next day things got rowdy as some friends and family and I gathered around the old pine tree and had a Tea and Croquet party.
It was such a happy day!

We topped the weekend off with Mother's Day. Boy! At this point I think people were getting a little tired of celebrating me, and I was feeling like there was a little too much party packed into one weekend, so we had a nice day at home and a little private game of croquet on the lawn, my darling, my cousin, my father, and me:)
Thanks everyone for the happy birthday memories!

*I'm not that crazy lady who looks as old as a leather bag and swears she is 25, I would just like to retain a shred of mystery on the point.
*Pomegranate. Where I had the single best cup of coffee in my life. They do things to soy foam that should be rewarded with large sums of money and jewels, but as it is, it is cheaper than Starbucks.

ABC

I want to inform you of the latest project brewing in my little art room!
I'm starting a new line of ABC prints for my etsy shop.  Little illustrations from A to Z. These are going to be available in prints of various sizes. Which is a handsome idea for pocket books, and my poor little fingers.
Here is A, looking a little on the unfinished side...but we are getting close, and I couldn't wait any longer before spilling the beans. More on these later, but for now...
Happy Monday!

Farmer's Market

It's here!
I have been waiting so patiently and it's finally farmer's market season again!
Fresh flowers, fresh produce, fresh eggs, local and weekly! Bliss:)